


Jubilee

by Nanocowie



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: But reading it isn't required, Closer to SAO: Progressive, Empowered Kirito and Argo, F/M, Fluff, Harem, Kayaba is trash, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 11:54:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19317652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanocowie/pseuds/Nanocowie
Summary: Kirito and Argo, during the Beta, took advantage of a rumour and took a crack at marriage in the Beta. Fast forward to the main release, and it looks like there was more to that rumour than what met the eye. Congratulations Kirito, SAO might actually be fun for you.





	1. Chapter 1

The general sense of panic seemed to be coalesced in the middle of the Town of Beginnings, dissipating as you got further out. Kirito could see the few smarter, and probably beta-hardened, players running out towards the nearby plains as he went south. Klein was the furthest thing from his mind at that point. He had left the man in the plaza, knowing how to kill a boar was enough for him to get started.

Arriving in a small grove, he slowed to a halt to catch the sobbing missile that was Argo. The woman, unmistakeably her considering only they knew about this grove, seemed to cry just for the hell of it as she latched onto him while Kirito stroked her back awkwardly. “Hey Argo…”

She looked up to him with big, teary eyes and muttered sadly. “H-How did this happen? W-We might d-die…”

Kirito shook his head, perhaps not for virtue of comforting her, but for the additional status in the top left of his peripheral vision. “We’ve got our trump card, remember?”

Argo looked shocked as she looked at it herself, before opening her menu and going to ‘Status’. “We’ve got Sanctified Wedlock, but… What’s Jubilee? That was never in the datamining logs.”

He shrugged, not knowing what she was talking about as he opened the menu. Going to his own status, his eyes widened as he read the flavour text for the effect. “3… 3 times EXP!? H-How did we get this!?”

She took a moment to think before she began to break down in giggles, confusing her oblivious companion. “I think I’ve got it Kii… The rumour had more than one part to it. Not only do we get the money share, we get 3 times the exp in the main release. That church was a steal!”

Kirito nodded as he remembered the woman coming up to him in a hurry during the beta, begging for him to check out a rumour with her. Obliging her, if not particularly fond of being dragged away from the dungeon, Kirito found himself getting married in a chapel on the mountains surrounded by angelic NPCs. “That’s… Interesting.”

Argo seemed to take a few steps away from him before taking a few steps forward. “It doesn’t look like it’s got a range limit. Kii, we should get to work. I’ve scouted the area, Kobold Grotto spawned to the south of here. Three times the usual kill exp… You could be 20 within the night.”

Feeling slightly excited at the prospect, he quickly walked towards the south where the marshlands were situated. Pulling out his sword, he frowned as a few of the grizzly dragonkin began to make their way towards him. Suddenly, he felt a heat on his back, and turned to see Argo brandishing her dagger while keeping her back to him. “Let’s do this… Honeybunch.”

Groaning like an unoiled machine, he got to work dispatching the kobolds. The first few were hard, god knows that he would be dead if Argo didn’t have his back, but they quickly became easier then boars. By the end of the wave, he smiled at the One-Handed Skill, now at rank 40 and offering some of his favourite moves of the beta while a large ‘Level 18’ underlaid the skill tree. “Argo, how’re you holding up?”

She grinned at him, tapping away at her ‘Stealth’ tree happily. “Never better Honey.”

Walking over and cuffing her over the back of her head, he told her annoyedly. “Argo, I told you not to call me that, it’s embarrassing. Don’t you have any pride as a shut in?”

Argo laughed and latched onto his arm, her eyes dancing with mirth as her dagger went back into her inventory. “I have nothing _but_ pride. Trapped in a video game, destined to stay together thanks to a status effect, an auction house girl and a shut in gamer… You’re the protagonist here Kii, and I’m best girl.”

Letting out a small huff of laughter despite himself, he quickly got back to killing the gnarled kobolds and more powerful Carnage Kobolds until his level flashed as 20. Argo had left a while ago and sent him a message as he hit 20 with a location ping. _“I got our place.”_

Packing up and beginning to trek towards the village, Kirito found himself outside of a quaint country house with Argo leaning against the side looking particularly smug as she flipped a crystal in her hand. “Argo, did you get the-?”

She passed it over to him, and he didn’t even bother looking at it before throwing it back. “… Good work, I guess.”

Argo pouted and stomped over. “C’mon protagonist, you know how the best girl likes to be rewarded.”

He felt a migraine coming on as he reluctantly patted Argo’s head, making the girl snicker at his expression. “You’re too easy Kii. Well, considering we’re done farming for the next… Couple months, we should be good.”

Kirito looked at her in confusion as he followed her inside. “How’re we done for months?”

Argo explained happily as she led him to the kitchen table, where a basic stew was waiting. “We cleared out the Kobold Grotto, that’s not a small feat at one. Mini-dungeon bonus, all of those high level kills along with risk reward, multiplied by three? I’d be surprised if we didn’t hit twenty. Granted, we probably lost our hold on anything but the Grotto, but the first floor’s unique items are mostly specialisation based. My claws come up a few levels up, so does your martial arts and my whiskers. You’re a swordsman, not that special in SAO, so you don’t really have anything to lose if others take stuff.”

The girl knew her stuff, Kirito had to admit that. While he had originally planned to play the game solo, Argo had managed to wiggle her way into his insulated life and burrow into his heart like a parasite… An unflattering analogy if there ever was one, but he had warmed somewhat to the information broker. Speaking of which… “Are you going to be an info broker here too?”

Argo looked at him in shock before shaking her head. “It won’t work for too long, and it’ll probably draw Beta hate. Mind if I be a housewife?”

Kirito stared blankly at her, and Argo relented with a laugh. “Alright, I promise I’ll do something useful. How about I handle our money issues and unique quests, you handle the monster killing and clearing? It’d be nice to come home to a mansion, wouldn’t it? Not to mention we get 50% gold bonus from Sanctified Wedlock, and our inventory share means I can sell minute new resources while you’re questing. If that doesn’t make us hit a mil before anyone else, I don’t know what will.”

Finishing up the meal, Argo quickly retreated towards the bathroom to enjoy the hot waters as Kirito went outside and towards the nearest plain. With the stew warming his belly, he sliced through the wolves of the plain with ease, but ended up only gaining half a level before returning back to the house with some skins in his inventory. Going out towards the back of the house, he quickly got to work leaning the ‘Leatherwork’ skill and making Basic Leather Armour. Putting it on for size, he was suddenly blindsided by Argo in her bath towel. “Leatherworking, really Kii? You could buy better stuff in the town y’know.”

Kirito shrugged and explained. “We’re going to be bored for months, right? Better get used to all of the trades.”

She blinked for a moment before asking curiously. “Rank are you?”

He responded shortly. “50, we had a lot of Carnage hides and wolf pelts. Turns out there’s bonus exp for making a standard item first.”

Argo grinned before asking excitedly. “You think you can make me a unique outfit? We’ve got some Carnage Scales, right?”

Looking down at the generic leatherworking station that came with the house, he took out a few of the scales and a kobold pelt before working them together. The ingredients glowed, before falling together into a cloak. “Will this do?”

Argo took the cloak excitedly before throwing it over her shoulders, dropping the towel accidentally. “Jesus Christ Argo!”

She looked down at herself before yelping, pulling the cloak tight around herself as Kirito looked away. “Damn ethics code… Isn’t it supposed to kick in?”

Argo let out a laugh, leaning over and pecking him on the cheek before explaining. “We’re married, remember? Till death do us part and all that. I’m surprised us two horny nerds haven’t done each other yet, especially since these aren’t real bodies.”

Kirito felt his heart try to leap out of his chest as Argo grinned at him, standing up and summoning clothes onto herself. “There’s a reason I asked you to test out that rumour and not some other schmuck. Come on, let’s head to bed. We’ll head to the track tomorrow and see if we can’t level our Agility a bit.”

He was glued to his seat, looking away from the girl in mortification before he felt a pair of arms around his waist. “Come on Kii, don’t make me do all the work in this relationship. We’re here, we’re married. Just indulge a homie?”

Kirito gulped as he clucked dejectedly, making Argo chuckle as she got into the sole bed and patted the spot next to her. “Gonna stand there with your pants at your feet all night? Or are you gonna do the match-three with me?”

Dragging his feet over to the bed, he sat down in silence before Argo gripped his shoulders, laid him down and threaded her arms around his waist. While she made way too many references, he felt slightly more at ease thanks to them. “Don’t worry Kii. We’ll have four seasons of nothing, a rescue arc, a tearful reunion and I’ll kiss you before finding out you met someone else during that arc with no personality and somehow fell for her and I’ll just give up without a fight and marry one of the reformed bad guys.”

He took a shuddering breath before admitting weakly. “A-Argo, I don’t… Look I don’t know how to do… This. You’re real, I don’t _do_ real.”

Argo giggled as she began to snuggle into his chest. “Kii, how would this play out in a VN?”

Kirito frowned at her, she knew full well that he didn’t play those glorified picture books. “Right, no idea. Which means that we’re at a crossroads, which means routes. I could respect your boundaries and stop, you could force your way out of the marriage, or we could make sweet, sweet eroge right here. Kirito, it’s _fine_ to treat me like an NPC if you really want to but… You’re chill, alright? You know what it’s like back IRL for me, I know what it’s like for you as well. Let’s just try this whole marriage thing the normies love so much, and if we hate it, we go back to raid partners.”

The night was silent, and Kirito didn’t actually know how to respond to that except wrapping his arms around Argo in return. Morning came, and they didn’t say anything to each other as they went towards the longest, most scenic track on the floor and began to jog. About every kilometer, their agility seemed to increase by one point, and when they came to a halt 45 minutes later, they were sitting on an increase of 10 ranks. Kirito noticed that Argo had made a few meals for them, and as he looked at the lightly panting girl as she leaned against a tree, he felt his heart go out to her. She was just as starved for affection as he was, she was just honest with herself.

Argo had told him that her family as a group of respected scientists working on stellar travel, whereas she was enamoured with becoming a journalist. Apparently, she butted heads with her parents on more than one occasion, and she had to buy her Nervegear using months of part-time pay. Her otaku tendencies didn’t make her particularly popular with her classmates either. Taking a moment to compose himself, he stood up and walked over to her, making her turn to him in confusion. “Kii? What’s wrong?”

Steeling his heart, he muttered awkwardly. “I-I guess I can give it a try… A relationship that is.”

Argo’s eyes widened in surprise, before she latched herself around him with a smile. “Thanks, I promise you won’t regret it.”

After a few moments, Argo let go and sat down, patting the grass next to her with a smile. “Sit with me.”

Doing so, he suddenly found himself with two chopsticks aimed at his face with a mouthful of rice between them. “Come on, eat up.”

While he was completely embarrassed, he saw Argo’s hopeful and excited face and couldn’t resist. Tentatively taking the rice into his mouth, he chewed it for a moment before his eyes widened as a burst of flavour met his tongue. “Wow! This is really good!”

Argo grinned in pride as she explained. “I’ve made my fair share of food IRL, and I knew where to go to grab the ingredients for what is basically soy sauce. And I mean, girls make their boyfriend’s lunch every day, right?”

It was fairly obvious that Argo had some rose-tinted glasses on as she happily fed him from her own box, even coaxing him to feed her at one point, but he couldn’t make himself take those glasses off. Argo looked genuinely happy, not the coy grins or sly smirks she would have when fleecing him for his col in the early days of their relationship. Eventually they got back to work, running back to the house as the sun began to set. Argo took first shower, despite her attempts for him to share it with her, before Kirito washed off and met her in the bedroom in his leather armour. “You heading out hon-Kii?”

Kirito couldn’t help but be touched that she had tried to stop herself from calling him ‘Honey’. “Argo, I-I guess you can call me… That if you want to. We’re married, right?”

Argo jumped up and pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks, Sexy!”

He glared accusingly at her as she giggled mischievously. “Sorry Honey couldn’t help myself. Remember, be home by 2AM and no going into mysterious caves. Bears live in caves…”

Kirito called back with a smile as he walked out of the door. “And bears are crazy, got it!”

Of course, the first thing he did was go towards the nearest dungeon. The monsters were easy, the loot was good and the col was better. And so was their life for the next month or so. Argo kept an ear to the ground for any developments while levelling her trade skills and speech while Kirito started on the labyrinth, bringing in materials and col by the bucketload. Eventually Argo took over making clothing, providing Kirito with her own take on the Kobold Cloak and upgrading it as much as probability would allow. Granted, he never really gained any more levels, but that was to be expected. All of the other dungeons had basically made themselves redundant thanks to the risk mechanic, which determined exp based on the player’s level. Level twenty on floor one brought it down to 5% of regular exp gain, and even Jubilee couldn’t help those dire numbers.

Every night he came back to Argo, who always made sure to have a hot meal ready and some quip from one of the countless eroge’s she had played. Their combined col, liquid and assets, was rising into to the 100,000 mark. While they both admitted they liked the building they called home, both knew what they wanted… The 10th floor, and the unique house it possessed. Argo had gone so far as to upgrade her agility to 100, a feat impressive even with the bonus exp, to make sure they would be able to get to the quest first.

Eventually Kirito began to trek the Labyrinth, fairly bored with tapping monsters to kill them like some overengineered clicker game. Argo took the opportunity to sell their items in the main plaza to adventurers, gaining astonished looks as she cut deals on +3 Scale Armour like it was nothing. By the time Kirito came out of the dungeon, looking over the map data he had collected, Argo was veritably swimming in cash. “Good run Honey?”

That drew a few looks from the crowds, and Kirito muttered in annoyance. “Argo, please don’t call me that in public…”

She let out a laugh and stood up from her market stall, making the rug underneath her disappear. “Just messing with you Kii. Come on, I’m starving. We’ll eat at the inn then head home, sound good?”

He nodded, following her to the generic fantasy inn and ordering from the waitress NPC. Argo frowned as the girl leaned over the table to put down their plates of food, obstructing her view of Kirito thanks to her… Polygons. “Kii, no looking.”

Kirito blinked before teasing right back. “Jealous? I’m sleeping with the hottest person in Aincrad.”

Argo’s face flushed a deep red before Kirito continued slyly. “Yep, I’m pretty beautiful, aren’t I?”

She nearly did a spit take, making him laugh before digging into his meal. They finished up quickly, neither of them particularly interested in the rank 30 cooking, before kicking back in their booth. “Hey, Argo? I actually got something for you today.”

Argo’s eyes widened as he pulled out a pair of earrings, brass with a single jade in each. “I found them in the Labyrinth, I think it’s the first natural enchantment item I’ve seen. Devs must’ve reduced the drop rate.”

She took them from him, affixing them to her ears while frowning at the uncomfortable tingle. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes before opening them excitedly. “These things are +10 speech! Dude, that brings me up to 100, I get the Interest skill at this rank! Like, it’s only level one Interest, but that’s still 10% per month!”

Kirito couldn’t help but smile at her attitude. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone be so excited about speechcraft, it’s cute.”

Argo stuck out her tongue at him before breaking a coy smile. “Y’know, a girl might want a ring instead from her husband.”

He didn’t faulter, used to her teasing at this point after a month of ‘Dinner, a bath… Or me?’. “We both know we want the Sanctified Rings to boost Sanctified Wedlock. We’ll do it when we get to floor 10. Until then, let’s just keep on as we are, considering you managed to boost our cash by 20,000 today.”

She leaned back with a grin, flagging down a waiter and ordering two of the most expensive deserts. Soon enough, two plates of cake were sat in front of them, and they scarfed them down happily before Kirito stood up. “I’m heading back to the Labyrinth, my maps nearly done, and the boss room needs to be scouted. You heading back?”

Argo nodded and held out her arm so that Kirito could hoist her to her feet. Bidding each other goodbye, they went their separate ways. Walking back into the empty dungeon, Kirito got back to the last place he was and began to map again. His Cartographics skill, while low, did begin to improve as he mapped with one hand and stabbed monsters with the other. It was only when he began to hear the sound of clashing metal that he looked up from his map to see a cloaked duellist fighting off three Carnage Kobolds.

The duellist was holding her own, he knew that, but they were fighting recklessly. Their attacks connected but got slammed in the back by the mob’s axes. Kirito could see that they were hovering in the low 30%, about low enough for an execute move to finish it. Dropping his map menu, he ran in to stab into the Kobold that was in position to deal a killing blow. “Switch!”

Their eyes locked, and Kirito was surprised to see the face of a woman looking at him in shock. Turning back to the Kobolds, he threw out a few verticals and saw the monsters disappear into crystals, and he noticed that he levelled up to 21. Taking a few deep breaths, Kirito turned back to the girl with a small glare. “You’re fighting too dangerously; you’ll never get it past the boss room like that. After every Kobold kill, try to reset before killing the next. Rapiers have low cooldowns, but they’re cooldowns that could kill you.”

As he admonished her, he noticed that her eyes began to darken. “What’s it to you? This world’s going to kill us all at some point, why not now?”

Kirito took a step back before sighing. “You really want to die in this game? I’m not sure about you, but I think Kayaba made a fatal mistake when he made this game. He gave us the option of making it boring.”

The duellist’s eyes widened before Kirito continued. “We play it safe. We get our risk bonus down to 5% before we take out bosses. We get our equipment to +8 and our skills up to 1000 and get out of this game in time for dinner. Now party up with me, I’ll keep an eye on you.”

He sent her a party request, and she accepted it in silence. Looking up at the party bar, which had just been himself and Argo for the longest time, to see her name. “Asuna huh? Well, you’ve got good skills even if they are unpolished. Come on, let’s get you to 10.”

As he began to walk through the dungeon, Asuna stayed behind him in silence. When they found a new pack of Carnage Kobolds, Kirito stepped to the side and said. “Eyes wide, don’t let them flank you. Remember, reset after every kill, there’s no rush. If things get hairy, we’ll switch out.”

Asuna nodded, and Kirito began to get sick of her silent treatment but watched as she rushed over to the Kobolds and began to stab away at them. It looked as if she was a quick learner, and she successfully managed to dispatch all three without taking a single hit. She took a few deep breaths as Kirito walked over to her, patting her on the back before handing her a sandwich. “Eat up, your HP is still too low.”

The girl blushed before asking, apparently nervous. “Did you make this?”

He blinked once as he took out his own sandwich, dismissing the mischievous message from Argo about him being a cheater. “Nah, my partner Argo made it. Since we share an inventory, she can send stuff straight through to me and me to her.”

Asuna nodded and took a bite out of her food, before scarfing it down like nothing else. Once she was done and wiped away her mouth, she asked curiously. “Hey, how come you two share an inventory?”

Her reaction was priceless when he said with entirely false seriousness. “Blood ritual.”

He let it stew for a moment before bursting out in laughter at her horrified expression.  While the girl seemed naïve enough, he didn’t want to tell her the extent of Jubilee just yet. “I’m kidding! We’ve been married in game since the beta, did a quest to get a special version which gives us a few bonuses.”

Asuna took a deep breath, calming herself down before asking in renewed shock. “M-Marriage!? I-Isn’t that a big deal?”

Kirito shrugged and dismissed it. “Marriage in MMO’s is a tool for most players. They’ll find someone on a forum, say their vows and walk away with their 10% exp bonus. Argo found a quest and since I was the only guy she knew in game, we did the quest together. Looks like the marriage was the only thing that carried over, along with our beta knowledge, so we just kinda… Partnered up. Everyone needs a friend in this game after all, why not each other?”

The girl gave him a small smile. It looked like she had warmed up to him slightly after that. “… Not to mention we got the only house on this floor with a bath.”

If he had been any slower, he may not have seen her move as she gripped the lapel of his armour and asked pleadingly. “Please!”

Shrugging once again, he motioned for her to follow him as they walked out of the labyrinth and towards the house. Opening the door with an almighty creak, he said aloud. “Argo! I’m back!”

He was greeted by the sight of a grumpy Argo, tapping her foot as she brandished a rolling pin in her hand. “It’s 3 in the morning, and you got me up to make you food for _another_ woman? I gotta admit Kii, you’ve got balls.”

Stifling a laugh, he walked over and patted her head. “You’re not angry, I’ve seen angry Argo. You must’ve seen her health was low yellow. Asuna, meet Argo, Argo meet Asuna. She wanted to use the bath.”

Asuna’s eyes lit up at the word, and Argo sighed as she muttered discontentedly. “This is our place Kii, you should have told me if you were bringing another person around… And where will she sleep?”

Kirito was surprised at her turn of attitude and felt a small gnaw of guilt at his heart at Argo’s slightly betrayed look. He knew she was insecure about their marriage and bringing back an objectively appealing girl probably didn’t help her out much. “Sorry Argo, you’re right, I should have at least messaged you.”

Turning back to Asuna, he said shortly. “Bath’s on the second door on the right up the stairs, can’t miss it. Take as long as you need.”

Asuna nodded even if she looked slightly worried about how she left them, and the two veterans looked back at each other. “Kii, I was in town today and I had some trouble. People hate us Betas, they want us to drop our equipment and col for free and apologise. This girl could be trouble, and inviting her inside…”

While he wasn’t surprised at the Beta hate, he was saddened to hear that Argo had a run in. She was never the best when it came to conflict. “Argo, I know where you’re coming from, but I think she’s safe. I found her in the labyrinth, taking on Carnage Kobolds in the low 30’s and not dodging at all. She thought marriage was a serious thing in MMOs. I’m fairly certain that she went into SAO for the Full Dive gimmick and hasn’t played an MMO in her life. Also, trust me on this. Some noob isn’t going to seduce me.”

Argo blinked in shock before sighing and giving him a smile. “Thank god for that. If you really think she’s safe, then she can stay for a bit. But where’s she going to sleep?”

He grinned and pulled out some Rabid Sheep Wool and a log of Common Oak wood. “Come on Mrs Kirito, we know you’ve been working on your carpentry.”

Argo huffed and pulled out a knitting needle, tapping the ingredients until it turned into a bed. “Fine, but only so I can show off to the noob. Get that thing into the guest room.”

Giving a mocking salute, he put the bed back into their inventory and went up to the guest room, rematerializing it in the corner. It was only then when he heard a small splash and a scream, and he let out a small laugh as he heard Argo’s laughter while Asuna demanded to know what she was doing. Eventually they got out of the bath, Argo looking rather smug as Asuna averted her eyes from the two. “Enjoy yourself?”

His partner didn’t respond, instead humming a merry tune as she got ready for bed. Asuna however walked over to him and cleared her throat. “U-Um… I was wondering if you could… Teach me?”

Kirito turned to Argo, who was sitting on the bed while gauging his reaction. “Kii, she won’t survive past floor 5 like she is now. Just until she’s on her feet, please?”

The room was silent for a long moment before Kirito sighed and nodded, making the two girls grin amongst themselves before he continued. “But _only_ until she gets the first Wind Fleuret on floor 7. Just… Let’s try and level you to 15 before the boss fight.”

Argo spoke up from the side. “Word is that there is going to be a strategy meeting in three days. You think you can get her to 15 before then?”

Asuna was surprised when they both began to laugh as if it was trivial. “I-I’m level 10 right now, are you sure?”

Both veterans waved her off and Kirito said. “Get some sleep, we get to work at 10.”

They got into their shared bed that Argo still insisted on, making Asuna blush as she hurried out of the room. Argo was all to happy to get close to him, enjoying the warmth like a cat as Kirito looked at the notification in his messages in confusion. He had nobody on his friends list, except for Argo of course, so it was weird that somebody would message him.

Opening the message screen, his heart stalled as he read the name of the sender. Tapping the message open with a shaky finger, he gulped before beginning to read in mounting dread.

‘Congratulations, you have successfully solved my game. I never would have imagined that somebody would have found out how to make this boring on floor one, but that is a veteran for you. Unfortunately, your flaw is that I have many interests, and you certainly are interesting. Don’t try and escape this fate by telling others, I don’t want to see the little lady cry if I have to silence you. Enjoy yourself… Honeybunch.’

-Kayaba Akihiko

As he closed the message, a golden screen replaced the menu reading. ‘New Skill Acquired: Harem Master’. It was almost as if his heart began to constrict as Argo hugged him closer in her sleep, mumbling his name cutely in her dreams.

“Motherfu-!”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Thank you all for coming to today’s strategy meeting! I’m Diavel, a knight!”

There was a smattering of applause and laughter at his announcement while Kirito simply smiled at the man’s refreshing enthusiasm. While he was never one to interact with his raid leaders much, he followed their orders where need be. “Now then, thanks to a donation of map data from a kindly information broker, we have found the boss room. I want to propose that we get a raid party together and take this thing down before tomorrow is over.”

Shocked gasps came from around the amphitheatre and Kirito raised his eyebrow at the cloaked Argo who was sitting with Asuna, who just stuck her tongue out at him cutely before Diavel continued while pulling out a leather bound book. “Now then, I trust you have all read the-“

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud-mouthed mace wielder jumped down from the seats and began in a nasally, annoying voice. “I’m-a let you finish Diavel, but I gotta bone to pick with some of you! There’s gotta be beta testers in here, show yourselves! You guys took all the best hunting spots before the rest of us could get a shot at em! Drop all your col and items, it’s only fair!”

Kirito scoffed at the logic, and promptly a large axe wielder stepped up and verbally tore him a new asshole much to the crowd’s pleasure. They couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s sour look as he sat down in a huff, and Diavel continued with a small smile after the laughter subsided. “Well then, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business. According to the Beta Tester’s guidebook, the first boss is ‘Illfang the Kobold Lord’. It’s got four health bars and uses something called a Talwar to attack. I ask that you all form groups of four if you plan to come along and take as many potions and support items as you can. We depart at the entrance to the Labyrinth at 9AM tomorrow morning, hope to see you there!”

As the crowd began to mingle and form teams, Kirito walked over to Asuna and Argo and sat down with them. “You sure you want to come Asuna? This is your first boss fight ever, and the stakes are… Higher than usual.”

Asuna let out a giggle at the understatement and nodded. “Kirito, I’ve been working towards this ever since you began to teach me. Trust me, I’m ready.”

They shared a smile before Argo piped up. “Not to mention she’s the only one I’d trust to be your combat partner. Kii, we have enough potions for 20 boss fights, but remember that Illfang has some nasty burst.”

After a few minutes of chatting about the boss fight, they retired to the inn and paid for their best room. Argo had gone out about an hour ago to sell potions to the aspiring raiders, and Kirito could see in his inventory that their col was increasing by the minute. Asuna walked in and sat down on the bed next to him, peering over his shoulder to look at the rising counter as well. “Argo really is raking it in, isn’t she? If I wasn’t any smarter, I’d say she was cheating.”

They share a laugh at how much of a moneygrubber Argo was, and Asuna sighed as she leaned against him. He was surprised at the amount of affection she had begun to show him over the past week, but had accepted it nonetheless for no other reason than Argo seemed to be okay with it. “Kirito… We’re gonna get out of here, right? All of us, together…”

He nodded, explaining quietly. “SAO is a solvable game Asuna. I’ve been thinking about it, and our time limit before our IRL bodies wear out should be 4 years, give or take 3 months. We’re about 7’000 strong right now, 2’000 of them are unwilling to fight, 4’000 are adventurers and the final 1’000… That’s mostly the beta group and hardcore veterans, they’re the frontline. 25 Floors a year is a terrifying prospect if I’m honest, not to mention we’ve already wasted too much time getting the general populace up to scratch. But…”

She looked up at him curiously as he grinned and bragged. “I’ve got Argo and you, not to mention 8 years of MMO experience and Beta knowledge. If anyone’s going to clear this game, it’s us.”

Asuna giggled at his attitude and nodded, closing her eyes as she muttered. “Hey, I live in Tokyo… In real life that is. Where do you two live?”

Kirito hummed in thought before telling her. “I live in Tokyo too; Argo is more north from what I’ve heard. Why do you ask?”

After a moment, Asuna asked in depressingly desperate voice. “I-I was wondering… W-When we get out of here, can we all… Meet up? I-I-Is that a thing MMO players do?”

The door opened, revealing Argo looking slightly saddened as well. “A, it’s not like we’re just going to forget you after SAO is cleared. Remember what we talked about, you’ve got a place with me if it gets too much, understand? I’m sure Kirito would help out too.”

He was shocked as Asuna began to sob quietly and had to dodge out of the way as Argo rushed over to hold the girl, rubbing her back comfortingly. The girl looked up at him with a glare he didn’t expect from Argo and nodded frantically. “Of course I’d help!”

Asuna cracked a small smile, but she didn’t say anything as she slowly fell asleep, her face now stained with tear tracks. “Argo… W-What was that?”

She looked up at him for a second before turning back to Asuna, stroking her hair as she slumbered. “She’s not had the best time of it, let’s just say that. I never imagined a rich girl would have this much turmoil going on behind the scenes… Kii, she’s got  _ arranged marriages _ planned for her, like a fucking business transaction. Damnit she’s only 17… Wait, how old are you?”

He shrugged and quietly said. “Si-sixteen in a week or so…”

Argo’s anger fell away to shock before she began to giggle. “Wow, didn’t think I was older then you. I’m 16 in three days or so. Looks like you just need a pair of twins, a loli and a big breasted big sister to round out the set. Wait, am I childhood friend here?”

Gulping as he remembered the enigmatic ‘Harem Master’ skill, he laughed it off before turning back to Asuna with a frown. “Arranged marriages, I thought those were illegal these days.”

Argo nodded as she set Asuna in the bed, covering her with the linen sheet. “They are, but they’re as good as law in rich families apparently. Marry my friend’s son, or you get cut off, simple as that.”

Kirito gritted his teeth as he gripped his chair tightly. The thought of it sickened him to his stomach, and he shuddered as he imagined Suguha getting married off. “Argo I’m… What can we do for her?”

She smiled at his resolve and walked over to him, dropping into his lap and leaning back against him. “We’d could provide for her until her parents relented or… Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I really want you to keep an open mind about this Kii. Once we get out of SAO, I was kinda hoping… We could move in together?”

A long moment of silence followed before Kirito’s face lit up in excitement, surprising Argo as he replied. “T-That sounds awesome! B-But how would we…”

Argo’s face lit up at his reception to the idea and began in similar excitement. “Well before we got stuck in here, I had my part-time job, not to mention I’m still technically in high school so I’ll have to catch up. But hearsay is that we’re all going to be lumped together in a new academy if we’ve missed out on school. So I was thinking that we work part-time jobs until we’re done with high school, I’ll go on ahead and try and get a journalist gig and start on a deposit, and once you’re done with high school you can try and get into an engineering course at Tokyo University. We might not be able to do it immediately afterwards but… I-I really want to!”

He stayed silent as she went over her plan, and once she was done, reached to hold her hand. “Argo, trust me, it sounds good. Let’s go for it, seriously. I mean, it also helps since we don’t really need to get a two-bedroom apartment.”

Argo’s face flushed at the contact and she grinned back ruefully. “But what about A? Wouldn’t she want a room for herself?”

Her response was a pointed look and a motioning down to Asuna, who was awake and holding onto her shirt. “I-I’m fine with one bedroom… If you’ll have me…”

At that Kirito stood up and sighed, gripping Argo’s shoulders and pushing her down into the bed with Asuna despite her protests. “Of course Asuna, you’re a part of our team now. Sorry, we must’ve woken you.”

She shook her head as Kirito forcefully pulled the covers over the struggling Argo who was mewling out protests. “Argo, you’re gonna stay here and do girl talk with Asuna, understand? I’m off to do some manly man stuff, so get her ready for tomorrow.”

Argo stopped and asked curiously. “What kind of ‘Manly man’ stuff?”

Kirito could do naught but shrug. “I dunno, arm wrestling, go wrestle bears, drink heavily… Level my one-handed by myself.”

They stopped for a moment before bursting out into laughter as the innuendo was lost on Asuna. “Kii, seriously?”

He continued to chuckle as he made his way for the door. Argo frowned and replied pleadingly as he began to walk out of the room. “Come on, we’ve shared a bed ever since we’ve got here!”

He grinned over his shoulder and called back, louder than he needed to be if he was honest. “You two girls don’t have too much fun, or else I might have to come back and discipline you later!”

The sound of the two girls calling after him angrily made him chuckle as he went down to the innkeeper NPC and requested a room, sighing when only a low cost room was left. Getting into the uncomfortable scratchy sheets, he tried his best to fall asleep, but the fought of facing off against Illfang the next day kept him awake. At the very least, he was sure that Asuna and Argo were probably having fun, and that managed to lull him to sleep eventually.

Arriving at the designated gathering spot about 10 minutes earlier then he needed to be, he found only Diavel standing there with his party. “Ah, the squad D leader, right? Glad to have you onboard my friend, even if it is only the two of you in a party.”

Kirito gulped and nodded, replying similarly. “Likewise. My partner should be here soon.”

One by one, members began to arrive. Just as it was reaching 9AM, Asuna and Argo showed up panting slightly. “What took you girls so long?”

Argo grinned and nudged Asuna, who yelped before gulping and materialising a lunch box from her inventory and handing it over to him while averting her eyes. “G-G-Good luck t-t-today, I-I’m i-in your care…”

Taking it with a word of thanks and putting it into his inventory, he turned to Argo who was watching them with a contented smile. Once Asuna stepped away, she walked up and gripped his shirt, bringing him down and locking her lips to his much to the envy of the rest of the raid party. Letting the stunned swordsman go, she turned away to hide her blush. “See you space cowboy, don’t die.”

Diavel smirked at the raid party’s reaction before calling for the rest of them to follow him into the Labyrinth, not giving Kirito a chance to respond to Argo as he was swept up in the flow of people. The trek was long, and eventually Asuna’s hand made its way into his as she shied away at some of the whispered lecherous comments coming from the rest of the raid party. “Don’t mind them Asuna, I think the census said that there were only 2,000 or so actual girls playing SAO.”

After about an hour of marching, they arrived at the boss door. Some of them were panting from having to carry around basic plate armours, and from what Kirito could see some of them wearing Argo’s scale mail. Diavel motioned for them to be quiet, and with a simple nod to all of them, opened up the door. The room appeared to be panelled with shattered quartz plates, and on the far side of the room they could see the eerie form of the Kobold Lord sharpening a massive sword against the floor. The sparks glinted off every surface of the room, instilling a sense of danger in them.

They approached cautiously, their hearts beating in unison as they anticipated the first true fight against a boss of Aincrad. Diavel’s foot hit the middle of the room, and suddenly the quartz illuminated in a rainbow of colours as the Kobold Lord stood up. From the cracks in the wall panels, Kobold Sentinels began to pour out as Illfang began to lumber towards them with its teeth bared. “A, tank the hits. B and C, focus on DPS! D, keep the Sentinels off us!”

Kirito and Asuna nodded, rushing to begin to take out the Sentinels. While they took a few hits to kill, they worked in tandem, and eventually the wave was over. As Asuna took out the individual Sentinels that spawned, Kirito rushed over to Diavel who was hurriedly trying to co-ordinate the unorganised rabble of adventurers attacking Illfang. “Diavel, there’s too many of them attacking at once. Recall them and get them healed, I’ll hold it off.”

The knight turned to him with an ugly expression. “Who gives you the right to-“

He was cut off by Kirito’s glare, one which spoke volumes about what he thought of Diavel’s ‘strategy’. “A fellow beta tester, I know his patterns.”

Diavel’s eyes widened before he nodded, shouting to the adventurers. “All of you, back to me!”

As the adventurers began to rush back, Kirito jumped in and began to weave around Illfang’s attacks. The raid party watched him in shock as they drank their potions, and eventually Asuna came in to jab away at the blind spots of the Kobold Lord. They attacked tirelessly until eventually it was on it’s final health bar, and suddenly the Talwar was thrown away in exchange for a wicked looking two handed sword. “Asuna! Fall back!”

Heeding his advice, she jumped away after stunning Illfang for a second and rushed back to the line of adventurers. Kirito gritted his teeth and began to work away at the monster, ensuring that he always knew where the blade was. That sword shouldn’t have appeared until the 5 th floor, it could kill any of them in a single hit. Just as the Kobold Lord was hitting the red, he was blindsided by Diavel charging in for an attack. “Diavel! Stop!”

It was too late, Illfang’s sword impaled the knight who was still charging a sword skill, and within seconds his health dropped to 0%. The entire party’s eyes widened as Diavel coughed up some digital blood, muttered a small ‘Damn’, before exploding into shards of light that floated into the air and disappeared. “D-Diavel…”

Turning back to Illfang, putting the man’s death into emotions to process later, Kirito began to hack away at it. Illfang was too close to death to do anything to stop him, and as the final swing from the +8 Anneal Blade sliced it’s chest open, the monster died. Kirito was left standing along in front of the Kobold Lord’s throne, gasping for air. He hadn’t taken a single meaningful hit, and as he stood up, the obnoxious ‘Congratulations, you have beaten <<Illfang: The Kobold Lord>>. Last attack bonus: Cloak of Midnight.’ Flashed in front of him. Swiping it away, he turned back to the raid party and they began to cheer for him as Asuna ran forward to hug him. Her eyes brimmed with tears as he rubbed her back comfortingly. “You doing alright Asuna?”

She nodded, grinning up at him. “Y-Yeah, w-well done.”

Just as he was about to turn towards the staircase, a familiar nasally voice shouted out. “Why did you let Diavel die, asshole!”

They all turned to Kibaou, who was pointing at Kirito accusingly. “You knew Illfang’s attack patterns, why didn’t you tell us all!? I bet you were just here for the EXP and last attack bonus! Drop that bonus and apologise, you damn Beta tester!”

Kirito felt a migraine coming on, but before he could respond a cat-like laugh permeated the room. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen a moron like this before, eh Kii?”

They all turned to Argo, who walked through the crowd and wrapped herself around one of his arms. Argo’s eyes said it all as she walked towards him, and Kirito felt himself chuckle involuntarily, following her lead. “True that Argo. Hey dipshit, why do you think Diavel ran in like a fucking spazz? Couldn’t be because he wanted that last attack bonus or anything, or was he just being ‘noble’? Maybe he was a noble beta tester? Newsflash, he was the idiot here. If he was a real tester, he would have known that sword would have killed him in one hit.”

The raid party looked on in horror as Kirito pulled his arm out of Argo’s grip and put it around her shoulders, pulling her into his side as he grinned wickedly. “Diavel deserved what happened to him. Fortune favours the bold, but not the stupid and all that after all.”

Kibaou looked as if he was about to have an aneurism as some of the raid party began to mutter in agreement, even if it was harsh. “Y-Yeah, but you still could have told us Illfang’s patterns! You beta’s are all the same-“

Argo cut him off as she nuzzled against Kirito’s side. “Diavel could have told you, but none of you could have pulled off my Kii’s techniques with your pitiful stats. And one more thing, don’t even think about lumping us with the rest of those other Betas. None of them deserved the position like we did, especially that Diavel guy.”

While he was also talking like an asshole, Kirito had to admit that Argo knew how to play a good villain. Kibaou gritted his teeth before pointing at Asuna. “H-Hey you! You’re not a Beta tester, are you!? Why’re you standing next to them!? Come o-over here and…”

Asuna giggled before walking over to Kirito, affixing herself to his other side and laying her head on his shoulder with a patronising grin. “And what makes you say that?”

While he felt his heart begin to stall at just how murderous the raid party now looked, Kirito opened his menu and donned the Cloak of Midnight. He felt a surge of power overcome him, and suddenly felt a bit lighter then usual as he turned towards the staircase with Argo and Asuna in tow. “Don’t even think of following us. We’ll beat SAO by ourselves, we don’t need fodder, or other beta testers.”

They walked together up the staircase as the stunned raid party looked on, with Kirito only giving the Unlock Next Floor crystal a tap before going through the door and into the light. Taking only a moment to look at the new scenery, now slightly wilder with moss and weeds growing on the pavement, Kirito allowed himself a sigh of victory before turning to Asuna and Argo. “Girls, are you sure about this? We’ll never get a moment of peace from now on.”

Argo giggled before replying nonchalantly. “Kii, you honestly think I’d leave you to be hated alone like that? We’re married after all, partners in crime, Jesse and James, and Asuna is our Meowth.”

Asuna grumbled discontentedly before continuing. “She’s right. The way those guys acted was way out of line, it was obviously Diavel’s fault for running in like that. Not to mention the way those guys looked at me…”

He took a moment to take a deep breath before smiling at them gratefully. “Thanks, you two... Seriously.”

Argo leaned against him happily before speaking up to Asuna, who was averting her eyes. “A, you want to get in on this?”

Asuna gulped before sidling over to Kirito, holding onto his hand nervously. “D-Do you mind? He’s your h-husband…”

Argo giggled before mumbling into his chest. “Nope! Kii, can we  _ please _ keep her? I promise I’ll take her on walks and feed her.”

They shared a laugh at Asuna’s groan of annoyance before Kirito turned to Asuna worriedly. “Asuna, it’s really up to you. It’s been fun having you around up until now. If you want, we can drop this whole training thing and just be… I dunno, partners?”

Asuna flushed red at that, but before she could reply Argo chimed in. “A, you know that I’m not a fighter. You’re the only girl I trust with my Kii on the battlefield, so… If you stay…”

The girl stepped away from Kirito and whispered into Asuna’s ear opposite the curious boy. Asuna’s face lit up in happiness at whatever she heard and said happily. “I-I’d be happy to stay with you!”

Kirito smiled as Argo and Asuna celebrated for a moment before he cut them off. “Girls, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a quest in mind to do. Argo, do you want to go and take Asuna to the Crimson Oak Lodge and do the quest for the keys?”

She nodded excitedly and dragged Asuna away, rambling on about the house with the outdoor spring surrounded by a grove of trees. Smiling at the two as they walked away, Kirito began to make his way through the old town and towards the quest he had in mind. By the time he arrived at Argo’s location on the map with a necklace and pair of gloves in hand two hours later, he found the two girls had decorated the house up to the nines.

Going towards the hotspring, he opened the door to find Asuna and Argo relaxing in the spring looking like they were on cloud nine. “Hey girls.”

Asuna’s eyes shot open as Argo peered up at him, a coy smile on her face. “How scandalous Kii, walking in on two girls taking a bath. If you wanted to see some naked girls, you could’ve just asked.”

Asuna was busy hiding herself from his gaze before Kirito said to her flatly. “Asuna, the ethics code means that we can never see each other fully naked. Even if you are technically not wearing anything, I’ll always see you in underwear and you’ll always see me in underwear if we don’t disable it. I mean, doesn’t work for married couples, but you’re safe.”

She took a moment to calm herself before gulping and asking nervously. “S-So y-y-you c-can see A-Argo…”

In response, Argo stood up and walked out of the bath and towards him, wrapping her arms around him as Kirito began to splutter. “Yep, he’s seeing it all.”

All she got was a bonk to the head, courtesy of Kirito who removed his own clothes and sunk into the water. “Save it for later Argo, I think Asuna’s going to explode if you continue. Anyways, Asuna, catch.”

At that Kirito brought out the necklace, throwing it to her as she flushed red. “It’s the Shield Amulet, it’ll give you a 1000hp shield for 10 seconds if you go under 10% HP. While I’m fairly certain you’ll never have to use it, I don’t want to take any chances.”

As Asuna took it, stammering out a thanks, Argo pouted and asked whiningly. “Where’s my present Kii? You’re really giving another woman a gift right in front of your wife?”

He grinned as he held out the gloves he had just gotten, making Argo’s eyes widened before she yelled in excitement. “No, freaking, way! How the hell did you finish that quest, you need 130 Agility at least!?”

Kirito laughed as he explained happily. “Asuna’s lunch had a temporary agility bonus enchant, I wonder how that happened?”

Argo grinned happily as she grabbed him into a kiss, making Asuna pout in turn before Argo put on the gloves. “They’re real… The Gloves of the Rat, the unique pickpocket gloves… You sure you don’t want to make devils blush tonight Kii?”

He chuckled before Asuna asked curiously, consciously fiddling with the amulet now affixed around her neck. “What’s so great about those gloves? Can’t you pickpocket without them?”

Argo shook her head, admiring the gloves the entire time. “Nope. The only way you can get these gloves is by doing a unique quest, which is basically impossible at this level. Pickpocketing always fails in safe areas, but with these… I can actually pickpocket NPCs in safe areas, and if I’m caught the first few times, all I have to do is pay a fine! Oh god I could kiss you Kii!”

A raised eyebrow is all she got in reply, and she went back in for another peck before sighing and laying against his shoulder. “Ima keep you forever Honey.”

Asuna watched as Kirito wrapped his arm around Argo’s shoulders, smiling down at the girl who looked as if she was about to fall asleep. “Love you too Argo.”

After a few minutes Argo did actually fall asleep, snoring peacefully as Asuna watched Kirito brush a lock of hair from her face. “Kirito, why is she so… I dunno, affectionate? I thought marriage in MMOs meant nothing?”

He looked up at her for a moment before looking back down at Argo, smiling at her scrunched-up nose as he tickled it with a lock of her hair. “You know about Argo’s IRL life, right?”

Asuna nodded, and he continued sadly. “I’m not the best with people, but… I think Argo’s doing her best to enjoy her time in SAO, because she can be the person she wants to be. She helped start the raid, she made armour for the adventurers, she makes potions… She has a h-husband, a-and you’re her friend. I’m not sure, but I think that she thinks… That she’s not good enough to have any of those things in real life.”

She felt her heart constrict a little bit as Kirito pulled Argo closer, making the girl smile in her sleep as he continued. “She’s amazing, I’ve come to realise that over the beta and now. She doesn’t let SAO get her down, she just enjoys the moment… I-I really like her, she deserves better than what she got dealt IRL.”

Asuna nodded before floating over to Argo and sitting opposite of Kirito. “W-Well, I guess we just need to do our best on the front lines for her, so that we can get out of SAO and complete her plan. I really like living with you two y’know, it’s a lot of fun with Argo, and you’re so kind to us both. A-Also, I kind of owe Argo a little…”

Kirito’s eyebrow raised before Asuna leaned over Argo and captured his lips with her own, surprising him at her assertiveness. As she leaned back, she offered him a shy smile and said. “A-Argo said it was okay to share… If you want to? She said that SAO is a chance for us to be ourselves… No parents, no societal rules, no positions, no business transactions. It’s… Our world, s-so can I ask you a favour?”

He honestly couldn’t give an inner monologue to his own emotions if he tried as Asuna shuffled in her seat nervously. “C-C-Can… W-We be t-together too?”

Kirito gulped before taking a deep breath and nodding, offering the girl he had begun to see as a friend a nervous smile. “Y-Yeah, i-if you two are really okay with it. But the thing is… I-I don’t think we can marry each other in game.”

Asuna’s face fell drastically, and before Kirito could try and liven her up, a voice spoke up from all around them. “The skill Harem Master allows player Kirito to perform the quest Holy Matrimony multiple times, while not interfering with established marriages.”

Both of them yelped, and Kirito could swear he heard a laughing before the voice cut off before turning back to Asuna with a nervous grin. She looked slightly mortified, but determined, nonetheless. “H-Holy Matrimony, huh? S-So we can get married?”

He nodded, and Asuna’s face suddenly took on a steely gaze. “So we need to get to this quest, where is it?”

Kirito replied meekly that it was on floor 10, and Asuna looked as if somebody had kicked her puppy. “N-No way… B-But we can still… Alright, we need to get to floor 10 as fast as possible!”

He nodded along, and eventually they quietened down. The evening turned to night, and Asuna fell asleep against Argo as Kirito got out of the spring and redressed. If he was honest, he didn’t want to leave the two, but considering homes were safe areas they wouldn’t drown. There was an abundance of adventurers in the main town, probably checking out the new floor, and he kept the hood on his cloak up as he went towards the Labyrinth and began to map it.

The plant monsters were on the level of the Sentinel Kobolds, but at least the risk bonus had elevated to 30% of normal EXP. It was the first time he had seen such a jump in improvement in his levels since the first day, and by the time he walked out of the Labyrinth with 60% of the dungeon mapped, he had jumped to level 26 and his risk bonus was back down to 5%. The sun was back in the sky, but not sleeping made sure that he was tired despite the lack of challenge. Just as he got out of the town, he was suddenly blindsided by a group of adventurers brandishing their weapons at him. The leader looked particularly smug as he said. “Drop your items, and we’ll let you go easy.”

He hadn’t expected people to become bandits this early in the game, and it was all he could do not to laugh as he responded seriously. “You guys really want to roleplay bandits, in a death game? You could really kill someone for some col?”

The bandits laughed and the leader pointed an axe in his direction. “That ain’t our problem kid, in here it’s kill or be killed.”

Kirito sighed and pulled out his anneal blade, brandishing it at them. “Look you guys, I’ve not slept since the boss fight, and I’m not in the mood. Go back into town, get an inn room, and let’s pretend that this never happened.”

One of the bandits roared in annoyance and charged at him, and Kirito allowed the blade to graze him before he dodged around and kicked him in the back. All of them stopped as their companion’s icon turned orange. “In SAO, people who commit crimes are branded with an orange marker until the timer runs out. I think attacking an innocent is three months of orange, and NPC’s won’t talk to you during that time, not to mention guards will attack you. I want to warn you now, killing a green player will give you a red icon, and that stays forever. Turn back.”

That seemed to scare them away, leaving their companion who was suddenly a lot less inclined to fight. Turning back to the scared man, Kirito grinned savagely as he advised him. “I’d start running too, guards’ll be here any moment considering we’re just outside the town.”

It was enough to shock him into running away, and he continued to chuckle as he walked back to the house where he found Asuna and Argo working together in the kitchen. “Morning girls.”

Argo turned around in shock before offering him a smile. “Morning Kii, where were you?”

He dropped onto the couch and replied as she came over with a plate of food. “Just getting the dungeon mapped, 60% so far. What’ve you ladies been up to?”

She grinned as she sat down with him, and it was only then when he noticed that Asuna was in an apron of all things and was happily humming to herself as she cooked. “Just getting A up to speed with Cooking, the girl’s got some real good luck with meal quality rolls. So, we going to sell that map data now that we’re basically EA? Honest to god hated by the community, money grubbing, premium content snatching crooks?”

Kirito couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter at that as he began to eat his meal, grinning at the taste of the tender boar meat. “No, we can just leave a data crystal at a guild’s doorstep. I’m just going to keep 100%’ing until that happens. Until then, we can focus on getting ourselves to 1000 now that we’re past the beginner’s stage.”

Asuna looked up from her pot at that and asked curiously. “What do you mean?”

Argo responded with a smile. “The first floor is basically a tutorial, every floor after it is much denser with content. If we  _ really _ focused, we could get Kii’s One Handed to 1000… But it’ll probably happen around floor 10 or so, he doesn’t really do much else anyway except Agility. We’re going to hold of on changing his sword until we reach floor 7 by the way, that’s when we get our first Expedition quest.”

As Kirito got himself ready to sleep of the day, Argo found herself teaching Asuna the ins and outs of what SAO would be like going forwards. By the time Kirito awoke at midday, Asuna and Argo had already left the house, and suddenly he was at a crossroads as to what to do. The second floor, while better then the first, was still limited in content and the player density would be much higher today. Eventually he decided on mob farming for equipment and returned back to the house with his and Argo’s shared inventory full of uncommon or higher pelts, wood and minerals that he could do scarce with except dropping into a chest while dropping the common items off at an NPC for some extra col.

And so was his life, farming drops, selling them to NPCs to boost his col and speech ranks for lack of better things to do. Argo had reported when they next saw each other that the Martial Arts quest appeared to have been moved, as had most of the other unique quest starts, and that they would have to wait until they reached floor 7. Of course, he and Asuna appeared for the floor boss fights, usually doing enough work for 10 people and more often then not getting the last attack bonus and doing the house quest for each floor and moving every floor. According to Argo, who spent her days in the city levelling her coveted Pickpocketing skill, a lot of players weren’t happy that somebody kept taking the best house of each floor… But who was he if not a lover of unique player homes?

As Asuna dealt the final blow to the Skeleton Knight: Fouljaw, final boss of the sixth floor, he immediately rushed towards the Floor Unlock Crystal and tapped it before going through the door and into the seventh floor. The familiar smell of flowers, fruits, fresh pine and grass filled his nostrils as he looked around at the vertical city of Havel inhabited by tree dwelling folk. He was suddenly met by Asuna, who rushed up next to him and soon enough Argo came through as well, panting slightly from the sprint through the boss room. “Alright, you know where to go Kii. I’m going to go and grab the location marker from the General, you head to the start of Elf War. Remember the dialogue to unlock the Dark Elf quest line? Their house is much better than the High Elves, I don’t want to be stuck in that glorified cottage.”

He nodded, repeating the phrase he had been drilled with for the past week. “They don’t sound like the aggressors.”

Argo nodded and quickly captured his lips before rushing off into the city. At this Asuna also dropped a kiss onto his cheek with a small blush of her own and said. “I-I’ll go and get the Wind Fleuret. Bye Kirito.”

And with that, the three went their separate ways, a goal in mind for all of them. It was perhaps the first time they really went to do something on their own, but as Kirito was listening to the pompous High Elf Lieutenant babble on about the dastardly Dark Elves, he felt the calm of Solo play engulf him once more… And for the first time, a sense of loneliness while he was at it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as solid as the first chapter, but I've tried to polish it into something readable. Thanks to my dude for beta. Next chapter, a new challenger approaches. Heads up for any SAO: Progressive purists, I'm going to be playing fast and loose with fine details of each floor. I honestly just can't find it within me to play the games also, so don't hold your breath about the girls in those.

**Author's Note:**

> Twas coerced into writing something along the lines of triple exp by my FF.Net trash brother, but it was fun nonetheless. If response is good I'll continue this for a bit before going back to MHA, finishing TTCAR and writing an Izuku x Eri's older sister or something.


End file.
